Cavendish to undergo surgery

Mark Cavendish will undergo shoulder surgery on Wednesday and faces around six weeks out following his Tour de France-ending crash on stage one in Harrogate last Saturday.

The 29-year-old from the Isle of Man ruptured all ligaments around his acromioclavicular joint and a separated shoulder as he sought a first yellow jersey of his career, his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team has confirmed.

"The surgery to stabilize the AC joint will take place on Wednesday, July 9," the Belgian squad said in a statement.

"The recovery time after the surgery will be around six weeks."

It means the Manxman will miss the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Cavendish, who has 25 Tour stage wins, announced his withdrawal from the Tour on Sunday morning after tumbling to the tarmac in failed pursuit of the maillot jaune in his mother's home town.

It was the first time since 2008 - when Cavendish withdrew voluntarily to prepare for the Beijing Olympics - that he has not completed the Tour.

Cavendish said: "It's worse than I was hoping but immediately after the crash I knew something was really wrong.

"It is really painful but at the moment all I can do is focus 100 per cent of my effort on my recovery to be able to get back racing for Omega Pharma-QuickStep as quickly as possible."

A collision with Simon Gerrans brought Cavendish down and the Australian's Orica-GreenEdge squad expressed surprise that the Manxman had not been rebuked by officials for his manoeuvre in a frantic finale.